


trying to be cool

by heombug



Series: eeny, meanie, miny, mo [3]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, my failed attempt at writing a funny and fluffy fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 19:07:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5677195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heombug/pseuds/heombug
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the four times Kim Mingyu fails miserably trying to impress a boy he likes in the short summer camp; and the one time he actually succeeds (not really).</p>
            </blockquote>





	trying to be cool

**Author's Note:**

> I don't actually know much about hapkido, and summer camp (as we don't have it in my country haha!). I modified the information I got from google and a fear street novel a bit to fit the story, so I apologize for the mistakes and nonsense-ness. If there is any corrections, please do let me know!
> 
> Title from song of same name by Phoenix.

i.  
_"Counselor Choi, Kim Mingyu sprained his wrist!"_

 

  
"You're so stupid!" Seokmin laughs loudly, his hand hitting the mattress bed where Mingyu is lying on now. "Isn't he?" he turns to a shorter male standing beside him, and they both laugh again.

"Is that how you treat your injured friend, huh? Calling him stupid and laughing at him?" Mingyu retorts, his eyes inspecting his now bruised left wrist. He takes an ice pack and presses it on his wrist.

"I mean, who on earth challenged a trained martial art guy without knowing any basic moves of it? If that is not stupid then I don't know what is," Jihoon says, plopping down on the mattress beside Mingyu.

"Who would've guessed that he's a trained martial artist since, I don't know, birth? He's just a- lanky, blonde guy with a sweet smile? And it's your fault, by the way, for not volunteering to be my sparring partner," Mingyu grunts, pointing at Seokmin, who quickly holds up his hands, refusing the blame.

"Should've cooperated with us first, though? What did you expect us to react when you suddenly came to our cabin saying this exact stupid thing: _Haven't practiced my hapkido in a while, anyone wants to be my partner?_ , when you don't know jack shit about it?" Seokmin retorts back at him.

"You should've gotten it already the second I mentioned hapkido. If it was _you_ , you could pretend to be bad at it and I would've succeeded in looking cool in front of _him_. But this Minghao dude stood up, how could I say no? So again, it's your fault," Mingyu babbles, glaring at Seokmin.

"What am I, a fucking psychic? At least gave a wink, or gestured slightly at _him_ , so I would know what you meant."

" _He_ didn't even watch you 'dueled' with Minghao, though, so it doesn't matter," Jihoon pokes Mingyu, trying to surpress his laugh. "When you screamed loudly after Minghao locked your arm, _he_ was just like: _Hm, what is that? Oh, just a stupid giant guy getting wristlocked by a blonde martial artist guy_ , and immediately went back to _his_ book," he laughs again, holding his stomach. "So funny. You're lucky you just got a light bruise and not a broken bone."

"Oh, that's true, that's true," Seokmin starts laughing again, agreeing with Jihoon and goes to high five the latter. " _He_ really is a quiet guy, that Jeon Wonwoo," Seokmin adds, shaking his head.

Mingyu clicks his tongue, ignoring the teases his friends are giving him. "Worry not, you two. We still have plenty of time before we go home this Saturday. I have all the information in my hands, so," he wiggles his eyebrows. "There are still plenty opportunities out there to show _him_ my charm," he grins at both of them. Seokmin and Jihoon just exchange a glance and laugh, ignoring Mingyu's right hand that is hanging in the air - waiting for a high five.

 

 

ii.  
_"Counselor Choi, Kim Mingyu fell into the lake!"_

 

  
"The dog wasn't even chasing you."

"Shut up, Hansol. You said it like, five times already," Mingyu replies flatly, holding out his hand from the bathroom to take the new shirt Hansol is handing him.

"You should've seen your face back there," Hansol laughs again. "What were you doing with the dog, anyway? You don't like dogs," he says to Mingyu once the latter steps out of the bathroom.

"I was only trying to pat its head, you know, so that I look like a dog person. But of course that dog just had to bark," Mingyu grumbles, drying his hair with a towel.

"It was a friendly bark."

"How could I know that? The dog barked right in my face so I stepped back."

"Dude, you weren't just _stepping back_ , you were practically sprinting backwards," Hansol bursts out laughing when he recalls the event. "Straight into the lake."

Mingyu throws the towel at his foreign friend, "Laugh all you want. Once I finally get Wonwoo's attention, don't come to me for tips on how to look cool in front on Seungkwan," he smugly says. Hansol only shrugs at that.

"Yo, Mingyu, you finished changing?" Seokmin suddenly barges into the room. "Counselor Choi told us to gather at the hall for the evening game now."

"Jeez, ever heard of knocking?" Mingyu rolls his eyes, shaking his hair a bit to dry it more. Seokmin ignores his comment and sits beside Hansol on the bed.

"You know, Seokmin, this friend right here is still confident about Wonwoo," Hansol playfully kicks Mingyu's foot.

Seokmin snickers, "Ah, speaking of Wonwoo. I think you might have succeeded in getting his attention today." Seokmin has somehow become his observer - the one to watch how Wonwoo react whenever Mingyu starts his actions in looking cool in front of the cold-eyed boy.

Mingyu raises his eyebrows in anticipation, "Really? Did he look worry when I fell?"

"He actually laughed," Seokmin replies shortly, and Hansol snorts.

"Oh," Mingyu looks slightly disappointed, his hand plays with the hem of his shirt.

"Not when you fell, but when Jihoon tried to pull you out from the lake and his hand slipped so you fell back again," Seokmin quickly adds. "You're lucky that lake isn't deep."

"Don't worry Mingyu, I laughed too," Hansol stands up and pats Mingyu's shoulder. Seokmin snickers again and goes to follow Hansol and Mingyu out the room.

"How comforting," Mingyu pouts. "But you're true, though, I managed to make him look at me more than three seconds. He actually _watched_ me fall, so yeah, it counts," he nods at himself, grinning.

"You're strangely optimistic," Seokmin says as he closes the cabin door, the three of them start walking toward the hall. "What's written on his profile about this, anyway? That he is a dog trainer?" he adds, kicking the grass.

Hansol lets out a silent laugh, " _A dog trainer_ ," the foreign boy repeats, clearly finding that hilarious.

"Funny," Mingyu rolls his eyes. "The paper says that he's scared of dogs, actually."

"Then _why_ did you pretend to like dogs?" Seokmin stares at his tall friend, "Better go to him and start talking about how you're also scared of dogs. And boom, your relationship can start from there."

Hansol makes a whistle sound, "How romantic," he comments.

"That's so lame. Who even tell their crush that they're scared of dogs?" Mingyu makes a face. "Listen, if only today's plan was a success, he might probably see me as a cool, animal loving person, and might even ask me for help on how to deal with dogs. But yeah, sometimes life doesn't work as you expected, does it," he adds, nodding at himself again, suddenly acting wise.

"That's even lamer," Seokmin shakes his head in bewilderment. "Ah, this friend is really unbelievable, isn't he, Hansol?"

"That's Kim Mingyu for you," Hansol replies. "What's your plan next, then, Mingyu? What have you got in hand now?"

"This one is the best bit I got from his profile. I'm sure I will succeed this time. Just wait, guys," Mingyu wiggles his eyebrows at his two friends, and gets a lazy " _Sure_ " reply in return.

 

 

iii.  
_"Counselor Hong, Kim Mingyu threw up on your jacket!"_

 

  
"Should've just picked Toy Story 3," Jihoon comments, handing Mingyu a glass of warm water. "You know you can't stand blood."

They're both now back at their own cabin. There's actually no schedule for tonight - all teams are free to do their own activites. The guys from cabin three and four decided to take a stroll through the forest, but Mingyu managed to ask his team's counselor, Choi Seungcheol to stay in the camp and do a movie night with the guys from cabin two - for a specific reason that is Jeon Wonwoo. So they all gathered at the main hall along with cabin two's counselor, Hong Jisoo.

"Yeah, and ruined my chance to look cool in front of Wonwoo. You saw him agree when I said we should watch horror movie instead," Mingyu replies, his hand massaging his temple. He's still feeling dizzy from vomitting, and the image of blood and gore from the movie earlier is still fresh on his mind. He shudders, trying to stop himself from throwing up again.

"Oh God, just talk to him, will you?" Jihoon whines at his tall friend.

"That's so outdated. I want to make him fall for my charm first, and that way, things will get smoother."

"And all your attemps have been nothing but failures so far," Jihoon notes, and Mingyu rolls his eyes. "Thanks for the reminder," the tall male replies.

The door suddenly slides open and Seokmin steps into the room with their other schoolmate, Soonyoung. "Yo, Mingyu, I heard the story," the slanted-eyed male grins at him and goes to high five Jihoon. Soonyoung is on cabin three team, he just came back from his forest walk and met Seokmin on the way back to Mingyu's cabin. "Too bad I wasn't there," he adds.

Mingyu ignores Soonyoung's last comment and turns to ask Seokmin, "Is the movie night over already?" he can hear the sound of his other teammates entering the cabin, going into their own shared rooms.

"Yeah, Counselor Hong called it quit not long after you left, and told us to get rest instead for tomorrow's competition. That is, after cleaning up your vomit, of course," Seokmin chuckles and plops down on the floor beside Soonyoung.

"He's not mad at me, isn't he?" Mingyu groans, holding his face in his hands.

Seokmin shakes his head, "I don't think he would ever get mad, at anything. He's too sweet." All of them laugh at that, and stop when they hear a knock on the door.

"Who would that be? Counselor Choi?" Mingyu whispers to his friends.

"I don't know, maybe. He said he would check up on you later tonight," Seokmin whispers back. He nudges Soonyoung, "Open it."

"Why me?" Soonyoung replies, still whispering.

"For God's sake, just open the damn door! Also, why are we whispering?!" Jihoon, ironically, whispers back at his friends and goes to open the door. The three of them start laughing and Mingyu throws a pillow at Jihoon's back.

 

Mingyu was lying upside down on his bed when he saw Wonwoo stand at the door. The room was surprisingly quiet as the four of them stared at the black haired male holding a carton of milk and a plastic of bread in his hands.

 

"Um, hi? Mingyu?" the deep voice brings Mingyu's attention back, he rolls back in his bed and quickly stands up.

"Uh, yeah," Mingyu stumbles his way to the door, approaching this certain guy who had been holding attention since the very first day he arrived in this camp. He hears Seokmin and Soonyoung fake a cough and he slightly kicks them. He pushes Jihoon aside and takes his place in front of Wonwoo, ignoring his short friend's smirk.

"Counselor Choi told me to give these to you," Wonwoo hands the milk carton and bread to Mingyu. "He said he'll come visit you later to see if you already feel better."

"Thanks," Mingyu mumbles, taking the stuff from Wonwoo's hands. He starts to squirm a bit when Wonwoo just stares at him for a while with his sharp eyes and expresionless face. Mingyu feels his face get hot.

"Are you okay, though? That was-," Wonwoo pauses. "That was a pretty bad _breakdown_ back there," he continues, referring to Mingyu's throwing up accident earlier.

Mingyu just wants to disappear from earth right then and there, especially when he hears the trio snicker at the back. But he still needs to show Wonwoo his charm so he just shrugs, trying to play it cool. "Yeah, no worries. I was just coincidentally having a bad stomach, so," he grins at Wonwoo.

Wonwoo just simply nods, "Well, okay, then. I'll be going back to my cabin now." He turns to Seokmin, "Are you coming?" Seokmin is also on cabin two, but they're not roommates so Seokmin doesn't really speak to him that much.

"Later, I'm staying here a bit," Seokmin grins at Wonwoo and the latter nods again.

"Bye, Mingyu. Bye, guys," Wonwoo waves at the other duo inside the room and turns to walk.

Mingyu slides the door close, and when he turns around he is greeted by a pillow flying to his face. "Bad stomach, huh?" Jihoon laughs, throwing another pillow at the giant.

"I need to stay cool, you know," Mingyu just shrugs, smiling to himself. He sits beside Soonyoung and rips open the bread's package. "He asked if I was okay, can you believe that?"

"Yeah, and that's _great_ , Mingyu! You can now forget those Jeon Wonwoo facts you found and actually start talking to him normally," Jihoon claps his hands.

But Mingyu shakes his head at the suggestion. "That would be too obvious, wouldn't it, If I start talking to him after all this. I'll just wait for a while until he finally notices my charm by himself," he confidently says, his mouth full of bread.

"Unbelievable," Jihoon sighs.

Soonyoung grabs the bread from Mingyu's hand and takes a bite. "That reminds me," he says while chewing, "How did you find Wonwoo's profile paper again?"

Mingyu frowns a bit, trying to remember the event. "I was assigned to take the badges from the counselor's office. Then I noticed Wonwoo's photo, aka the cute guy from bus two's photo, on a paper that turned out was the profile form we filled in when we signed up for this camp. I saw yours too, by the way," he stops to point at his friends. "So I quickly tore a paper from a _I-don't-know-whose-it-is_ notebook and scribbled down some informations of him," Mingyu ends his explanation, putting the last piece of bread into his mouth and grins sheepishly at his friends.

"Unbelievable," the three of them sigh and bury their faces in the pillows.

 

 

iv.  
_"Counselor Choi, Kim Mingyu choked on his hotdog!"_

 

  
"I'm pretty sure his profile paper doesn't say anything about him winning a hot dog eating contest," Jihoon says to his tall friend and hands him a bottle of water, feeling sure he's already been through this before. "So what is it this time, Mingyu?"

Mingyu drinks the water from the bottle in one take. "I improvised a bit," he replies shortly, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"You're really something," Jihoon sighs, shaking his head. "I thought you were gonna die back there!"

Mingyu just shrugs and lies down on the grass, looking up at the night sky. "Sorry," he mutters.

"Just when I thought you would finally man up and chat normally with him," Jihoon sits down not too far from Mingyu. "You even got to sit beside him, I don't get why you suddenly felt the need to shove two hot dogs in your mouth."

"I thought that would be cool."

"That was definitely _not_ cool. That was gross," Jihoon remarks, making Mingyu laugh. Jihoon joins him.

"Really, though, Mingyu. You should really talk to him, get his number, ask him out. Anything. Tomorrow's our last day here, remember?" Jihoon says again.

"He must think I'm a lame person already. And totally uncool," Mingyu rolls around so that he's lying on his stomach now, his chin on his hands.

"So what if you're lame and uncool. No, wait," Jihoon giggles at his own words, and bursts out laughing when he sees Mingyu turning his head at him, furrowing his brows.

"That doesn't really comforting, somehow, but thanks, I guess?" the tall male says, and they both laugh again.

"But seriously, Mingyu, forget about looking cool. I know I said it like millions time already, but, just talk to him," Jihoon pauses. He moves closer to Mingyu and copies the latter's position. He continues talking once he's finally comfortably lying on the grass, "You don't need to pretend to be someone that you're not. Just talk to him and your charm will automatically show." Jihoon blows air to his bangs, "Straightforward and confident guys are cool, you know."

Mingyu turns to face Jihoon, looking bemused. "When did you become this expert in love?" he dramatically blinks his eyes at his friend. "Does it have something to do with a certain camp counselor named Choi Seungcheol?"

Jihoon is obviously ignoring Mingyu's last comment as he continues to lecture his giant friend instead, making Mingyu laugh. "Your differences are what can bring you together. Wonwoo is good at hapkido, and you're not; that's fine, you can ask him to teach you. Wonwoo likes scary, horror movies, and you don't; that's great, you can purposely snuggle to him when the horror scene pops up. You're both scared of dogs; that's-" Jihoon pauses and purses his lips, thinking.

"That's...?" Mingyu raises his eyebrows, waiting for the continuation.

"That's... cool? You two can run away from dogs together," Jihoon finishes, roaring in laughter as Mingyu throws grasses at his face.

"I guess you're right," Mingyu finally says after his laugh dies down. "I'll talk to him tomorrow."

Jihoon only nods his head smugly, earning a punch from Mingyu at his shoulder. He then nudges Jihoon, "I guess I should also thank you for dragging me to this camp. Who knew that I would meet such a cute guy here that is Jeon Wonwoo."

"I honestly thought it would be boring, as it's just a local scale summer camp," Jihoon confesses. "There aren't that many schools in our area, I thought only few students would sign up. But turns out it's quite many," he rolls around and sits up, fixing his shirt.

"And I didn't know Mansae High has such a handsome student like Wonwoo! I walk pass their school every morning, never saw him."

"It's fate, then," Jihoon stands up, holding his hand out to Mingyu. "Come on, let's go back to the barbeque, I'm hungry."

Mingyu pouts, "They will laugh at me." The image of himself choking on the hotdogs, arms flailing as he tried to grasp something and breath, comes back to his mind. "I've ruined my image."

"It's already ruined since the hapkido incident. What's the difference now?" Jihoon cruelly remarks and laughs. Mingyu kicks his friend's thigh, acting offended but takes Jihoon's hands and stands up, anyway.

 

 

v.  
Mingyu takes a deep breath and cautiously approaches Wonwoo from behind. The black haired male is currently sitting on the wooden bench, watching the other camp attendees play a football match.

"Hey, Wonwoo," Mingyu starts.

Wonwoo looks up and sees Mingyu already stand beside him. "Hey," he replies.

Mingyu clears his throat, "May I?" he gestures to an empty spot beside Wonwoo. The latter nods and shifts a bit, giving more space for Mingyu to sit.

Both of them just stay in silence for a while until Mingyu finally speaks up. "I'm Mingyu."

"Yeah, I know," Wonwoo glances at the tall male beside him briefly. "You've been the center of attention these past few days," he adds, chuckling a bit, and returns his gaze to the field.

"Oh," Mingyu mutters, feeling joyful because: _He actually notices me! All my attemps were not failures at all, do you hear that, Lee Jihoon?_ , he thinks to himself and grins.

Suddenly feeling the need to look cool, he coughs once and nudges Wonwoo. "Hey, do you know why they call the sports team uniform a jersey?"

Wonwoo turns his face to him and shrugs as if asking _"Why?"_.

Mingyu clears his throat and puts on what according to him, his most charming smile. "Because Jerseyriously attractive and I'd like to get to know you more," he wiggles his eyebrows once, fully expecting Wonwoo to squeal at his pick up line or at least, smile shyly.

But Wonwoo just deadpans. So he elaborates more, "Get it? _Jerseyriously_? _You're seriously_?"

Wonwoo blinks at Mingyu exactly twice before standing up, and turns to walk away.

"No, wait! Okay, I'm sorry! Please stay!" Mingyu cries, grabbing Wonwoo's hand. "Please stay," he repeats, putting his best puppy eyes at Wonwoo. The latter stares at Mingyu for a few seconds. His face is unreadable, and Mingyu wonders if Wonwoo is laughing at him internally but keeps his face straight; or if it is really his default face.

Mingyu exaggeratedly sighs in relief when Wonwoo's back to sit again beside him.

"So, what's with the sudden lame pick up line?" Wonwoo keeps his gaze at the field, but Mingyu didn't miss the tiny smile escaping Wonwoo's lips just now. The tall male groans, finally giving up. He tells Wonwoo everything - how he had found Wonwoo's paper profile, how he had been trying to impress Wonwoo through the information he got from his bio. How he had been trying to look cool in front of Wonwoo but according to his friends, failed.

"I kind of like you," Mingyu sighs, ending his story. He glances briefly at Wonwoo from the corner of his eyes and quickly turns his gaze forward, not daring to see Wonwoo's reaction. He suddenly feels so uncool.

For a few second, none of them say anything. The silence is starting to worry Mingyu.

"I know. Soonyoung told me," Wonwoo's deep voice finally breaks the silence.

Mingyu abruptly stands up, a look of disbelief in his face. "Kwon Soonyoung, that little-", his voice raises an octave higher. "When?" he sits back again, facing Wonwoo this time.

"After that movie incident," Wonwoo's face is still calm and not showing anything. "He went to my cabin that night before going back to his, told me everything about you and your plans." A slight smirk suddenly paints his face.

"So you _knew_ after all! Why didn't you say anything?" Mingyu whines, his face is starting to feel warm.

"It was funny, you were hilarious." Wonwoo replies shortly. His smirk grows wider.

"That's mean."

"Haven't you heard? Mean is the new _cool_."

Mingyu snorts. A mix of emotions shown on his face; half embarrassed, half sulking. Wonwoo suddenly laughs at his reaction and Mingyu gets this butterfly feeling in his stomach. It's the first time he hears Wonwoo laugh and he already loves the sound of it. He shrugs off the blush creeping up his cheeks and tries to keep it cool.

"So, um," Mingyu clears his throat. "Do you want to hang out tomorrow? Maybe grab a lunch and go see a movie?" he scratches the back of his neck, peeking up at Wonwoo through his eyelashes in anticipation.

Wonwoo doesn't say anything, he just holds his gaze at Mingyu for a while, piercing his stare into Mingyu's eyes. "You know what, Mingyu?" he says, instead of giving Mingyu an answer. "You looked _really_ cool just now."

Mingyu's eyes widen, this time he can't hide the faint pink that tints his cheeks. "Really?"

Wonwoo chuckles. "Yeah, when you asked me out just now, you looked really... charming. With your shy gestures and all," he looks at Mingyu, the smirk appears again in his face.

Mingyu pinches the bridge of his nose, trying to hide his blush. He's still smiling widely. "So, about tomorrow, then. What do you say?" his smile turns into a grin, he feels more relaxed now.

"I'd love to," Wonwoo smiles softly.

Mingyu beams at Wonwoo, randomly giving the latter a thumb up. Wonwoo cracks up at that and hits Mingyu's shoulder. The tall male squeals internally and tries to disguise it by laughing along with Wonwoo. He shifts from his position, so now he's facing the field again.

It's a comfortable silence this time. Both of them are just gazing at the field, watching their friends still having football match. Cheerings and shoutings fill the air. The evening breeze blows through the trees, and makes the rustling sound of the leaves.

 

Mingyu thinks this is the perfect time for a cool pick up line.

 

"Hey Wonwoo," he nudges the boy beside him.

"Hm?"

"Do you know why-"

"No."

"Okay."

 

Mingyu has concluded that day that with Jeon Wonwoo, there is no such thing as a perfect time for a cool pick up line.


End file.
